David Bunting

Ups and downs of the EU Benchmarks Regulation

Benchmarks play a crucial role in global financial and commodity markets. They measure different economic underlyings such as interest rates, currency exchange rates, baskets of shares and commodity prices, allowing market participants to transfer risk or gain exposure by referencing a commonly understood metric. This article traces how the EU Benchmarks Regulation was developed to safeguard the financial system, but introduced unintended risks, which are now being addressed. This article also considers the consequences of amendments to the EU Benchmarks Regulation, for regulated benchmark administrators and users.